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Brian Sharp

Manager, Marine Mammal Rescue and Research

Work

Brian has been involved with marine wildlife rescue and rehabilitation for a variety of organizations, leading and as part of single and multi-agency teams in disentanglement responses for more than 40 large whales and 35 endangered sea turtles caught in lethal entanglements. He has also lead, or participated in, numerous small cetacean and pinniped stranding responses, as well as the rescue of more than 15 manatees.

At IFAW, Brian leads a team of five staff and more than 200 highly trained volunteers on rescue responses in one of the world’s top marine mammal stranding hotspots. As Stranding Coordinator, he leads the MMRR team in providing response training for IFAW locally and internationally.

As a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) permitted Level 5 responder, Brian is one of only a handful of people (less than 10) authorized to disentangle all whale species, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale, within US waters.

After leaving his position as Assistant Stranding Coordinator for the Cape Cod Stranding Network (now IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue and Research), Brian continued to serve as a volunteer responder at marine mammal strandings during his tenure at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and provided expertise in satellite tracking of released animals to the IFAW team. Before re-joining IFAW Brian was instrumental in establishingthe Massachusetts Sea Turtle Disentanglement Network which coordinates training and response for sea turtle entanglements throughout Massachusetts .